The Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, which organizes the march to mark the International Day Against Police Brutality, says this year's march will highlight what it calls "social profiling" by Montreal police officers, or the targeting of those believed to be homeless and therefore "unwanted."

The location for this year's march is where a police officer was captured on video in early January threatening to tie a homeless man to a pole. The man was wearing only a T-shirt and shorts in below –30 C weather and had been acting aggressively toward passersby.

The officer was disciplined after the incident.

Organizers also pointed to two other separate incidents that saw police shoot and kill Mario Hamel and Alain Magloire after confronting them on the streets for aggressive behaviour. Both men had experienced homeless spells and suffered from mental health problems.

The early morning shooting of Hamel in June 2011 also resulted in the death of Patrick Limoges, a hospital worker who was walking home after his shift and was struck by a stray bullet.

Last year's march ended with more than 250 arrests and more than 150 were fined $637 for participating in an illegal event.

Organizers have once again refused to provide police with an itinerary and route for today's protest, saying it allows police to take pre-emptive measures to restrict and disrupt the protest.

"It is not to the police to decide if we have the right to protest or not," the COPB says in a press release. 

Refusing to provide an itinerary makes the march technically illegal and sets the stage for more arrests this year.

Radio-Canada quotes Montreal police saying they will permit the march "as long as no criminal actions take place."

Past marches, however, have been marred by acts of vandalism and even violence and seen riot police respond with stun grenades and mass arrests.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/anti-police-brutality-march-set-for-today-1.2574163

THERE ARE MANY KINDS OF BRUTALITY

Evidence That Demands a Verdict  - A Montreal Police officer helped Dawn McSweeney rob me. Since then, the Montreal Police have repeatedly refused to take any action against the thief and her accomplices or to make any effort to return everything she and her partners in crime stole from me and from my aged parents, my siblings and their children. These crimes destroyed my family and my health. Drained by my endless battle for justicre, I am fighting cancer and I am still fighting for justice.

http://dawnmcsweeney.blogspot.com